Lahore University of Management Sciences. LITR 252 The Purest Pearl: Reading Rūmī

Transcription

1 LITR 252 The Purest Pearl: Reading Rūmī Fall 2012 Instructor Room No. Office Hours Telephone Secretary/TA TA Office Hours Course URL (if any) Madiha Shaukat TBA Course Basics Credit Hours Lecture(s) 2 lectures per week Duration 1hr 50mins Recitation/Lab (per week) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Duration Week Tutorial (per week) Nbr of Lec(s) Per Week Duration Course Distribution Core Elective Open for Student Category Close for Student Category No Open to all N/A COURSE DESCRIPTION I met last night in stealth with Wisdom s elder Begged him to divulge in full life s secrets This he softly, softly whispered in my ear; It must be seen, it can t be told, so hush! (Rūmī, Rubāʾī 1035) Listen as this reed pipes its plaint, 1 Mawlānā Jalāl al-dīn Rūmī (d. 1273) instructs as the nāy-nameh begins. Heeding the poet s behest, this course will aim to train our listening to capture, absorb and savor the nuances, intricacies and mysteries of Rūmī s Divān and the Mathnavī. Today these works are probably among some of the most read Persian texts, translated in the languages of the East and the West, with their verses quoted at scholarly or non-scholarly discussions about Love, Soul or the Divine. The plethora of scholarship 1 Beshnow in nay chun shikāyat mikonad Translation by Franklin D. Lewis, Rūmī: Past and Present, East and West The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalāl al-din Rūmi. Boston: Oneworld Publications, 2008, p. 362.

2 on Rūmī provides us a complex and a multifaceted Rūmī: an ecstatic mystic yet a preacher and a teacher, an upholder of religious ethics yet a critic of unquestioned and static orthodoxy. As UNESCO celebrated Mawlānā s 800 th anniversary as a symbol for cross-civilizational dialogue and peace in 2007 one may ask the reasons behind Mawlānā s fame as an icon, a sacred figure and as a critic puts a new age fad. By juxtaposing Rūmī s poetic oeuvre with his biographical context and the literary, social and historical circumstances he composed these works in, students will be given a chance to unravel the secrets of Rūmī s poetry on its own terms. We will familiarize ourselves with Rūmī s works in the original Persian (with some instances of Arabic, Turkish and even Greek!) juxtaposed with authoritative English and Urdu translations. Relevant critical and scholarly works in English and Urdu will be engaged. Class discussions can be in English, Urdu or Persian! COURSE PREREQUISITE(S) There are no pre-requisites for this course. COURSE OBJECTIVES By the end of the course students should be comfortable to discuss: Mawlānā Jalāl al-dīn Rūmī: the poet of the East and the West The Persian poetic tradition: Form, content and development of mystical poetry The evolution of inherited Arabo-Persian tradition in Rūmī s verses: imagery, symbols and style The Divān, Shams-i Tabrīz and poetry of ecstasy The Mathnavī s message, narratology and stories and story-telling Rūmī from a preacher, mystic-poet to a new age fad Some concerns of prosody and meter Learning Outcomes

3 We will appreciate Rūmī s poetry amidst the socio-historical, literary and religious context it was composed in. We will acquaint ourselves with some issues raised by recent scholarship on Rūmī and avenues in Rūmī studies that still need to be explored. From here, we will raise relevant questions on Rūmī s poetry, the Persian poetic tradition and Rūmī scholarship. We will familiarize ourselves with some relevant theoretical tools and terminology to enhance our experience and reading of Rūmī s poetry. Grading Breakup and Policy Assignments/ Quizzes/ Response papers: 20% Class Participation: 15% Attendance: 5% Midterm Examination: 20% Final Presentations: 10% Final Research Essay: 30% Examination Detail Midterm Exam Yes/No: Yes Combine Separate: Duration: Preferred Date: Exam Specifications: Final Exam Yes/No: No Combine Separate: Duration: Exam Specifications: COURSE OVERVIEW Week Topics Recommended Objectives/ Application

4 Introduction: Life and Works Session 1: Background and Biography Historical, social, religious and literary context, Maps Session 1: ghazal 395 Tūy-i daryā u ham gawhar tūyi The sea is you, the pearl too Because your being head to toe is nothing but the Mystery of the Maker) Week 1 Session 2: An Overview of Major Works Poetry: Divān and the Mathnavī Prose: Fihi mā fihi (The Discourses), Maktubāt (The Letters), Majāles-e sab é (The Seven Sermons) Schimmel, Annemarie. The Outward Setting. The Triumphal Sun: a Study of the Works of Jalāloddin Rūmī. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1993, Lewis, Frankin D. The Texts and the Teachings. Rūmī: Past and Present, East and West The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al Din Rūmī. Boston: Oneworld Publications, 2000, From the primary texts: A glimpse into Rūmī s writings Ghazal: Lewis, Rūmī: Past and Present, (D181, P6); p. 342; (D1, P2) p. 336 Mathnavī, Lewis, Rūmī: Past and Present, Moses Rebukes the Shepherd, God Rebukes Moses, p. 371 Sermon: Lewis, Rūmī: Past and Present, Discourse: Discourse 54 in Arberry: courses_of_rumi_fihi_ma_fi.pdf Letter: Riaz, Muhammad. Maktūbāt-u khaṭbāt-i Rūmī. Lahore: Tayyab Iqbal Printers, First encounters with Rūmī amidst some poetry and history

5 Divān-i Shams-i Tabrizī Week 2 Session 3: Mawlānā within the Persian poetic tradition Introduction to the Divān and Persian mystical poetry Divāns and mystical poetry before Mawlānā: Sanaʾī and Aṭṭār Technical terms: Ghazal, Qasīdah, Rubāʾī From the Divān Lewis, Rūmī: Past and Present (D37, P4), p. 340; (D563, P32), p. 377; (D2131, P40) p. 385, (D648, P39), p. 384 The Robaʿis (Quatrains), p Schimmel, Annemarie. A Two Colored Brocade: the Imagery of Persian Poetry. Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, 1992, Schimmel, Triumphal Sun, Please go over the list of Persian poets in Schimmel, A Two Colored Brocade, xi-xxi. (Especially those from the 10 th Century to the 15 th Century). Introducing, reading and experiencin g the Divān Session 4: Delving into the text: Some Close readings From the Dīvān Murde budam zende shudam gerye budam khande shudam (D1393) Har nafas āvāz-i íshq mī-rasad az chap u rāst (D463) Ay rastakhiz-i nāgahān vay rahmat-e bimuntahā (D1) Secondary Reading Chittick, William C. Speech is a Ship and Meaning the Sea : Some Formal Aspects in Ghazal Poetry of Rūmī. Poetry and Mysticism in Islam : the heritage of Rūmī. Eds. Banani, Amin, Richard Hovannisian, and Georges Sabagh. New York : Cambridge University Press, 1994, Week 3 Divān: Themes

6 Session 5: Taṣawwuf Brief background, important concepts and terminology (fanā, baqā, dhawq, shawq, tariqah, alast etc.) From the Divān From Lewis, Rūmī: Past and Present: Bāz āmadam bāz āmadam az pish-e ān yār āmadam (D 1390, P15) D2407, P26; D464, P9; D1507, P16, D2309, P 42 Secondary Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1975, 3-22 (optional); For a brief overview of Sufi terminology see: Baldock, John. The Essence of Sufism. London: Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2004, Selected readings from Shah, Syed Muhammad Zauqi. The Encyclopedia of Sufism. Islamabad: Talifat-e Shaheedi, Thematic Concerns of the Divān Session 6: Rūmī s theology and teachings From the Dvān: From Lewis, Rūmī: Past and Present: Ah che bi rang o be neshān ke manam (D 1759) Goftā ke kīst bar dar guftam kamin ghulāmat (D436) D 1725, P17; D2375 P34; D 2307 P35 Secondary : For theology: Schimmel, The Triumphal Sun, ; For teachings: Lewis, Rūmī: Past and Present, East and West, Divān: Symbols and Imagery

7 Week 4 Lahore University of Management Sciences Session 7: Stock symbols of Arabo- Persian poetry shama va parvānah, Saqī, Gul va bulbul Prophets and Revelation Birds Sun, Water, Gardens The Cosmos and the revolving spheres From the Divān: From Lewis, Rūmī: Past and Present: D2408, P38; D2214, P36; D296 on p. 617; D3153, P12; D3154, P13 Secondary Schimmel, The Triumphal Sun (The Sun, 61-75; Water, 75-82; Gardens, 82-92; Divine Calligraphy, ; Koranic Imagery, ) Optional: History and Geography; Music and Dance Schimmel, Brocade (The Language of the Birds, ; The Sky, the Wind and the Sea, ) Renard, John. All the Kings Falcons: Rūmī on Prophets and Revelations. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, (Prophetology, 1-13; Joseph, 59-66; Moses, 67-83; Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H), )Abdul- Hakeem, Khalifah. Tashbīhāt-i Rūmī. Lahore: Shirkat Printing Press, 1999, 1-5. Transitioni ng from the Dīvān to the Mathnavī Mathnavī-i Ma navī Session 8: Introduction Dates, compilation, reception, translations The Mathnavī genre From the Mathnavī The Preface (Arabic with translation) from Book 1 of the Mathnavī Secondary Iqbal, Afzal. The Message of the Mathnawī. The Life and Work of Jalaluddin Rumi. Karachi: Oxford University Press, Week 5 Session 9: Close reading: Nay Nameh (The Song of the Reed, Book 1,

8 Prologue to the Mathnavī Naynāmeh Lahore University of Management Sciences Mathnavī) Secondary Reading Beelaert, A.L.F.A. The Complaint of Musical Instruments. A Cure for the Grieving. Leiden: De Goeje Fund, Session 10: Stories and Storytelling: The Arabo-Persian Qisah and Hikāyat Anecdotes and Narratives From the Mathnavī: The King and the Hand Maiden (Book 1) Secondary Reading Yousofi, Gholam Hosein, Mawlavī as a Story Teller. Rumi: In the Light of Eastern and Western Scholarship. Ed. M. Ikram Chaghatai. Lahore: Sang-e Meel Publications, 2004, The Craft of the Mathnavī Structure and Style Week 6 Session 11and 12: Narratology Discontinuity, incompleteness and repetition in the Mathnavī From the Mathnavī The Green Grocer and the Parrot Story (Book1) The Merchant and the Parrot Story (Book1) ʿAṭṭār s version of the Parrot story (Asrārnāmeh) Secondary For Poetry and Architecture: Nadaff, Sandra. Arabesque: Narrative Structure and the Aesthetics of Repetition in 1001 Nights. Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1991, King, James Roy. Narrative Disjunction and Conjunction in Rūmī's "Mathnawi".The Journal of Narrative Technique 19.3 (Fall, 1989): Hamid, Farooq. Storytelling Techniques in the "Mas navī-yi Ma'navī" of Mowlana Jalal Al-Din Rūmī: Wayward Narrative or Logical Progression? Iranian Studies 32.1 (Winter, 1999): The Narrative Arabesque of the Mathnavī

9 Sources of the Mathnavī Session 13: Qurʾān and Hadīth; Adaptions from Arabo-Persian folklore From the Mathnavī Joseph and the Guest friend (Book1) The Lion and the Beasts story (Mathnavī, Book 1) with its version in Kalīlā vā Dimnā Week 7 Secondary Read from the Quran: Surah 12, Yusuf; Surah 18, Al-Kahf; Surah 24, an-noor (The Light Verse 24:35-24:40). (If you want to read online, you can choose your favorite translation from: Selections from: Abdul Latif, Muhammad. Ahādīth-i Mathnavī. Lahore: Packages Ltd, Nargis Virani, I am the Nightingale of the Merciful : Rumi s Use of Quran and Hadith (available online: Old wine in new bottles: What makes the fabric of the Mathnavī Session 14: Adaptions from religious treatises and predecessors The case of Ghazālī, Niẓāmī and Rūmī Close reading of Greek and the Chinese Painters (Mathnavī, Book1) with Nizāmī Ganjavī s version of it in the Sharafnameh and Ghazali s version in Ihyā Úlūm al-dīn

10 Week 8 Session 15: Midterm Session 16: Documentary and Discussion Rūmī: Poet of the Heart (Director: Hadyn Reiss Narrated by: Debra Winger) Lahore University of Management Sciences Rūmī beyond the text Week 9 Persian poetics in a comparative context Session 17: Mystical and Religious poetry in World Literature European Medieval Mystics: Hadewijch and Mechthild Dante s Divine Comedy Rilke from modern Germany Rūmī and World Literature Session 18: Comparisons of form and rhyme Persian Ghazal and the Western sonnet Quantitative (Arabo-Persian) versus qualitative (English) meter Comparisons from within Week 10 Session 19: Rūmī s predecessors Sanāʾī s Hadiqat al-haqiqah; Divān and Aṭṭār s Manṭiqat Tayr; Divān Mystical poets before and after

11 Session 20: Rūmī s forerunners Lahore University of Management Sciences Hafiz (Divān) and Jāmī (Selections from Haft Awrang) Week 11 Reading Shams and Rūmī s discourses Session 21: Shams Tabrizī: Rūmī before and after Shams Maqalāt-i Shams-i Tabrizī Tracing Shams in the poems of Divān and the Mathnavī Selections from: Chittick, William C. Me and Rūmī: The Autobiography of Shams-I Tabrizi. Loiusville, Kentucky: Fons Vitae, Lewis, Rumi: Past and Present, Supplementing the Dīvān and the Mathnavī Session 22: Fīhi ma Fīhi Rūmī s discourses, lectures, conversations Selections from Thackston, W.M. Signs of the Unseen: The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rūmī. Boston: Shambhala, Rumī: East and West Week 12 East: Session 23: Rūmī and Iqbal; Mystic Poets from the East: Bulleh Shah, Sachal Sarmast, Khwaja Ghulam Farid The tradition of Hallaj Iqbal, Afzal. Rumi s Impact on Iqbal. Mawlana Rumi: Bridge of East and West. Ed. Muhammad Ikram Chughtai. Lahore: Sang-e Meel Publications, Neither of the East nor West West: Session 24: The Persian Songs in Germany: Hammer- Purgstall, Platen, Rückert and Hegel Lewis, Past and Present, Week 13 Some last reflections Session 25: Rūmī in Contemporary times: Lewis, Past and Present, The eternal

12 The Mevlevī Order United Nations: symbol for cross-civilizational dialogue Best selling poet in the United States song Session 26: End that hath no end Mathnavī Book 6: An End or a Beginning From the Mathnavī: Book 6: Preface, Proem and Ending Week 14 Session 27 and 28: Presentations Textbook(s)/Supplementary Primary Texts in Persian and Translations (Urdu and English): Rūmī (Badīʿ al-zamān Furuzanfar ed.). Kulīyāt-i Divān-i Shams. Tehran: Nawbahār, 1385/1996. (English Translations: Franklin D. Lewis, R. A. Nicholson; Urdu Translations: Fahmida Riaz) Rūmī (R. A. Nicholson ed. and trans.). The Mathnawī of Jalāl ud-dīn Rūmī. Cambridge: The E. J. W. Gibb Memorial, Rūmī (Qazi Sajjad Hussain trans.). Mathnawī-i Mawlvī Maʿnavī. Lahore: Al-Faisal Nashran, Secondary Texts: Abdul-Hakeem, Khalifah. Tashbīhāt-i Rūmī. Lahore: Shirkat Printing Press, Abdul Latif, Muhammad. Ahādīth-i Mathnavī. Lahore: Packages Ltd, Arberry, A.J. Classical Persian Tradition. Surrey: Curzon Press Ltd., Banani, Amin, Richard Hovannisian, and Georges Sabagh., eds. Poetry and Mysticism in Islam : the heritage of Rūmī. New York : Cambridge University Press, Chughtai, Muhammad Ikram. Mawlana Rumi: Bridge of East and West. Lahore: Sang-e Meel Publications, Chughtai, Muhammad Ikram. Rumi: In the Light of Eastern and Western Scholarship. Lahore: Sang-e

13 Meel Publications, Chughtai, Muhammad Ikram. Pīr-i Rūmī u Murīd-i Hindī. Lahore: Sang-e Meel Publications, Chittick, William C. The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rūmī. Albany : State University of New York Press,1983. Chittick, William C. Me and Rūmī: The Autobiography of Shams-I Tabrizi. Loiusville, Kentucky: Fons Vitae, De Bruijn, J.T.P. Persian Sufi Poetry: An Introduction to the Mystical Use of Classical Poems. Surrey: Curzon Press, Iqbal, Afzal. The Life and Work of Jalaluddin Rumi. Karachi: Oxford University Press, Lewis, Frankin D. Rūmī: Past and Present, East and West The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalal al Din Rūmī. Boston: Oneworld Publications, Lewisohn, Leonard, ed. The Maulana Rūmī Review, Vol. 1 (2010) and 2 (2011). The Rūmī Institute, Near East University, Cyprus. The Rūmī Studies Group of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, UK. Noʿmani, Mawlana Shibli. Savāneh: Mawlānā Rūm. Lahore: Sang-e Meel Publications, Riaz, Fahmida. Yeh Khana-e Aab-o Gil. Karachi: Scheherzade, Riaz, Muhammad. Maktūbāt-u khaṭbāt-i Rūmī. Lahore: Tayyab Iqbal Printers, Renard, John. All the Kings Falcons: Rūmī on Prophets and Revelations. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, Safavi, Seyed Ghahreman and Weightman, Simon. Rūmī s Mystical Design: Reading the Mathnawī, Book One. Albany: State University of New York Press, Schimmel, Annemarie. A Two Colored Brocade: the Imagery of Persian Poetry. Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, Schimmel, Annemarie. The Triumphal Sun: a Study of the Works of Jalāloddin Rūmī. Albany, NY: State University of New York, Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, Thackston, W.M. Signs of the Unseen: The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rūmī. Boston: Shambhala, 1999.

14